


Whatever It Takes

by MarvelousMenagerie (HiddenOne)



Series: 2019 Tony Stark Bingo [5]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Fix-It, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-27
Updated: 2019-04-26
Packaged: 2020-02-07 05:33:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18614155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HiddenOne/pseuds/MarvelousMenagerie
Summary: Avengers: Endgame Spoilers. Summary inside.





	Whatever It Takes

**Author's Note:**

> Summary: The Avengers had gotten him here. All Tony needs is to finish it. It’s down to him, now, at the final moment, but they did this together. 
> 
> Together, the stones sing out. 
> 
> Tony uses the infinity stones to get rid of Thanos' forces, but accidentally picks up a soul-bond in the process.
> 
>  
> 
> Written for the Tony Stark Bingo : A3 FREE square  
> Ship info: There's background Pepper x Tony in this chapter, and if this fic goes where it's supposed to it will end up with romantic Steve x Tony.

_Don’t waste your life_.

Yinsen’s words come to him at the end. The power of the infinity stones races through him, burning hot. No human is meant to survive this, Tony knows. He will not survive this.

One ending, Strange had said. One way to win. This way, the only way, and it means that Tony stands across from Thanos with the infinity stones in a gauntlet of his own making. He’d stolen the stones from that monstrous golden glove, and now Tony only needs to snap his fingers.

It’s down to him. Steve had promised together, and this time they’d done it. They’d worked as a team, become the Avengers again with half of the universe to avenge, and now Tony just needs to cross the finish line.

Morgan. Pepper. Rhodey. Peter. So many that Tony will leave behind.

He doesn’t want to. He doesn’t want to go, but Natasha had sacrificed herself for this moment. Now it’s Tony’s turn.

Don’t waste your life, Yinsen had told him. Tony needs to not waste his death.

“I am Iron Man,” he declares. He snaps his fingers.

The power of the universe is coursing up his body, and the pain is unlike anything Tony has felt before. The shrapnel, the car battery, the arc reactor. None of that compares to the power that created the galaxies coursing through him.

This power is at Tony’s command, urging him to use it. Tony could remake the universe entirely. He could rebuild everything - a better world, a safer world. He could erase poverty, disease, famine, war. He could do whatever he wanted. The infinity stones call out to be used.

All Tony needs is for Thanos and his forces to be gone.

The Avengers had gotten him here. All Tony needs is to finish it. It’s down to him, now, at the final moment, but they did this together.

_Together_ , the stones sing out.

There’s pressure on Tony’s chest. Not painful, not like the arc reactor - a warmth that wasn’t there before. Tony doesn’t feel alone. He could weep at the feeling, the presence of someone else wrapped around his lungs, carried in his heart.

He hadn’t wanted to die, and he hadn’t wanted to die alone. Now, with someone with him, Tony lets the powers of the stones flow through him. Dust Thanos’ forces, Tony commands.

The stones do his bidding.

Tony’s vision goes white.

* * *

 

Steve is too far away when Thanos gets the gauntlet with the infinity stones.

Tony isn’t.

Steve runs. He’s injured and exhausted, but Steve races as fast as he ever has with his enhanced body. They can’t lose again. There will not be another chance.

And Steve can’t let Tony face Thanos alone again. Not again. Steve can’t fail yet _again_.

Thanos snaps his fingers and Steve’s feet stop. Steve’s heart stops, skipping a beat, and he braces himself for the end of the universe.

Nothing happens.

Steve is close enough to see the confusion on Thanos’ face. Then Steve realizes that it’s _Tony’s_ gauntlet that shines with the colors of the infinity stones.

Tony. Tony has the stones. Tony has the stones in his gauntlet. Tony raises his hand.

Is Tony going to _use_ them? They have to return the stones to their original timelines, or so many realities will fracture apart - but they also can’t let Thanos get the stones. Will Tony wish them out of existence, like Thanos did in their time? How can Tony choose between saving their own reality and destroying all the others that they created in gathering the stones?

They’ve run out of time.

“I am Iron Man,” Tony says and snaps his fingers.

There’s a white flash and then a stillness. Steve’s terror surges. He remembers this unnatural quiet from five years ago. Steve turns and searches for Bucky, afraid to look but too terrified to not know. He can’t watch Bucky fall and turn to dust again, but he can’t not see Bucky one last time.

There’s a pressure in his chest, building and twisting, as Steve searches the field. It’s not worry, though, Steve realizes. The pressure is warm and comforting.

Everything will be okay. Steve is not alone. Steve will never be alone.

_Together_ , something whispers in Steve’s mind.

Bodies start turning to dust. Steve cries out, breaking the silence, searching and searching for Bucky.

Steve realizes that it’s only Thanos’ forces that are turning to dust. Everywhere Steve looks, his allies are safe and their enemies are dust.

Steve watches as Thanos blows away in the wind. Steve is terrified and elated and exhausted and relieved.

Pain erupts up Steve’s right arm, and he drops Mjolnir in surprise. He looks at his right hand, watching and waiting, but he doesn’t turn to dust.

The comforting warmth in his chest goes dim. Somehow, Steve knows this light is supposed to burn bright blue. A hot, fiery spark in his heart that now slowly fades.

Steve is going to be alone.

Tony. Steve has to get to Tony.

Tony is dying.

The light is Tony. The warmth is Tony. The comfort is Tony. Steve doesn’t know how he knows but he _knows_ , and Steve will not let Tony die.

Thanos could barely handle the power of the infinity stones. Hulk is still scarred from that same power. How is Tony, a human, supposed to handle that?

Tony will find a way, because Tony always finds a way. Tony is a genius. Tony cuts the wire; Tony always has a plan.

But Tony is dying, and Steve can feel it, and _Steve can’t run fast enough_.

“It’s alright,” Pepper is saying as she crouches in front of Tony. “You can rest.”

Steve skids to his knees in front of Tony.

“No!” he protests, and grabs the gauntlet.

Steve doesn’t have time to remove it from Tony’s burnt, scarred hand. Tony’s entire right side is burned, and Steve feels an echo of the painful throb on his own right side. Steve grabs at the infinity stones instead.

“No!” Steve orders the stones.

Not Tony. Not Tony. Not anyone, but especially not Tony. Tony had a family. Tony had a wife and daughter. Tony had a _life_ , and he would be living it if Steve hadn’t dragged him back.

Yes, they’d won, but this was too high a price. Steve will not let Tony pay it.

Tony was never supposed to be the one to pay it.

“Save him,” Steve orders, ripping at the stones.

He doesn’t have time to put on the gauntlet, but all he needs is one stone. One stone should have the power to save a man’s life, right? All Steve needs is one.

The orange stone, the soul stone, lights up underneath Steve’s scrabbling fingers.

_And what price would you pay?_ A voice whispers in Steve’s mind.

Steve’s mind tinges red. The red and green stones glow in Tony’s gauntlet.

A house. Jazz music playing out into the street. An open window. A gauzy curtain. Through the window, Steve dances with Peggy. They’re pressed close together, and then they turn to each other for a kiss.

It’s a picture of the past, of what could have been, but the time stone whispers that this could be Steve’s future. Somehow, someway, Steve could have this future with Peggy. He could still have this.

_Would you give up that which you love_?

Would Steve give up Peggy?

Steve’s heart breaks. It had broken before, back in the past, when he’d stood in Peggy’s office and saw her again through the blinds. His heart had broken, and now it was breaking all over again.

He couldn’t talk to her then, and now he’d never get a chance. He doesn’t need to, though, to know what she’d say in this moment.

_Yes_ , Steve whispers to the stones. _For Tony’s life, yes_.

The stones flare hot underneath Steve’s fingers. Not one, but all five infinity stones glow with power. Steve doesn’t jerk away, too afraid to break the connection.

_Save Tony’s life_ , Steve orders. _Do it now!_

The light in Steve’s chest burns bright and hot. Tony’s gasp for breath is loud in the quiet.

“Tony?” Pepper asks, tears in her eyes.

Tony’s eyes flutter shut, but his chest rises and falls.

Steve doesn’t let go of the gauntlet. He doesn’t let go of Tony’s hand. He’s lost his future, or the chance at his past, whichever it is, but Tony is still alive.

Tony will return to his family. Peggy still lived a life with hers.

Steve will… Steve will pick himself up and continue on.

The warmth in his chest doesn’t disappear. Steve curls into himself, afraid that a breeze will blow out the light, even as it rests inside of him. He doesn’t know what the stones did or if they’ll undo it. He doesn’t know what this is, this bright, singing connection between him and Tony.

His heart aches, his body bruises, but right now, Steve is not alone.

_Together_ , the stones whisper.


End file.
